Please stop the gun violence
No more killing, please
Kids, young adults, and adults are being killed in the DMV
I wish that it would stop because it is so sad
I was in the crossfire of gun violence and I was very afraid
I felt bad and hopeless when I was in danger and I could have lost
my life but thank God I am still here on the earth
Don’t smoke our brothers
Don’t smoke our sisters
Don’t smoke our children
Don’t smoke anyone else
In the city where I grew up, we would fight people in the neighborhood or
people we had beef with, but we’d live to see another day
We didn’t pick up no guns
Our hands was our gun
We would fight after school, at the bus stop, or the go-go,
But we made it home in one piece
What happened to the city and neighborhood where we grew up?
When I was coming up as a teenager in D.C. in the 90s, there were things for us to do in the city like summer jobs, summer school, and a back-to-school concert. You tried to win a ticket on the radio or save up your money for some new shoes, Jordans, and nice clothes. We paid for our school clothes and made sure we had bus fare and Metro fare. We would go to the mall, Union Station, or the movies, and then we would go back to school. It was OK. At the time, there was more things for the youth to do in the city instead of hanging in the street and getting into trouble.
